Let's Hold Them Accountable
In the Wednesday, June 20, Monticello News we published a front-page story entitled “Watermelon Festival vs Jefferson County School Board.” Within that story it stated how the Watermelon Festival was told that they had to rent the Kilpatrick Auditorium this year, in order to hold the Watermelon Festival, despite the fact they had not been charged for the last seven to eight years.
The pageant committee attended the June 11 school board meeting in order to advise the school board members of the outrageous filthy condition that the auditorium was found to be in; trash, bugs, molding feces in the toilets, “waste” in other toilets, filthy countertops, filthy stage, uncut grass, to name a few.
We (ECB Publishing, Inc.) also published this same newspaper story on our Facebook Page, with a link to the website’s story. We had over 3,100 views, 32 shares and 61 comments (on the ECB Publishing Page). However, those 32 shares also netted their own fair share of views and comments.
Because a large amount of our newspaper readers do not have Facebook accounts, I have taken several of those Facebook comments and have decided to publish them, here! Since so many of these comments are the basis of what so many Jefferson Countians feel, I felt it was worthy of more than just Facebook readers to see.
• “It’s horribly sad how they have let every single building that they own deteriorate and make Monticello look bad... even the old boys and girls club... there was an organization who wanted to buy it from them and restore it but they refused to sell it. The entire elementary school that I remember is complete trash now... If Shirley Washington and others on that board have half a care about their positions they would know the conditions of those buildings... shame on her for berating them for not telling them the condition of their own property... They were exactly right when they said there was no love going into any of those buildings anymore... It's just sad and things probably will never change with people like that.”
• “What's crazy is they hold graduations in that building every year and never noticed the problem either. Every board member is there for graduation.”
• “They should have never built the new middle/high school. They should have invested all that money and upgraded the oldest brick school in continues use in Florida. The school board should be absolutely ashamed of their actions. They are showing they do not care about our county, our community, and our children. We are the worst school district in Florida. There is ZERO reason to come to Jefferson County besides the Watermelon Festival. You'd think they would want to bring more into the community, not take away.”
• “Didn't they use the Monticello Opera House once upon a time? I don't live there anymore, but maybe all of the Watermelon Pageant vets should go and voice their concerns in the July meeting. You guys could create a fire storm, make it an event on Facebook.
To touch on "not being held accountable for what you don't know" I would bring up that under Florida law, ignorance is not a defense. I realize that it is pertaining to laws, but if it's YOUR building, you should be aware of its condition. And why is there not a staff member going behind folks who rent the space? Isn't there an election coming up? Sounds like you guys need some new candidates.”
• “What's gonna happen like in the article. We will end up having the Jefferson County Watermelon Pageant in Madison County which is a damn shame. This whole county needs to stand up and do something. We are ruining our wonderful little community.”
• “They don’t know their buildings are that bad? Then what are we paying them for?”
• “They had to have known it looked like that! Very, very sad! Somebody is getting greedy!”
• “They had to and if they didn’t they haven’t been doing their jobs. Obviously they made money off of that.. $1200 is a lot of money. They could have put that towards fixing it or at least cleaning it up. I wonder where that money is going.”
• “…. the one that tells other board members to shut up and sit down during school board meeting. We’ve witnessed these issues and pulled our kids from the district due to this type of crap.”
• “This is awful! So, so sad! That's way too much money to not keep it in better condition!”
• “Graduation is held there every year. They knew it was that bad!!!”
• “No excuse whatsoever! This is a community event during the festival, that brings in A LOT of money to Monticello! I lived there for over 36 years and the pageant was always held at the auditorium... I'm floored that the school board charges for community events, first of all and second when it is in a deplorable condition. All of the money should be refunded!!”
• “Terrible. And people. Make sure to read carefully so at election time you remember who was not being helpful at this meeting.”
• “Disgusting. REFUND their money. What is wrong with this school board? Vote them OUT.”
• “How embarrassing! Are the grounds and properties owned by the district ever inspected by the powers that be? I would use the opera house for that kind of money.”
• “My daughter was in it one time back in the 80’s and I know how much work the girls and their parents put into it and what an important event for them.... just hate that they had to contend with all that mess, AC and lighting.”
• “This is ridiculous. I hope everyone in Jefferson county reads this and votes accordingly next go around.”
• “Shirley Washington needs to leave...sorry I'm just saying.”
• “I think it should be their (school board members) job to go by and inspect and not just depend on the word of the janitor. They then in turn tried to put all the blame on the Superintendent (current and past)! Just not right. There was only one school board member that was in disagreement with charging from the beginning. Thank you, Charles Boland.”
• “Wow! Can’t believe the school board would allow young adult graduates to use such a facility that is in bad need of repair per this thread. Aren’t you ashamed of your presentation to the community. Those teens need more than a run down and dirty facility to use for graduation. Shame on you school board! I am appalled at the politics in Monticello, never would have been present when I lived there many years ago. This is heartbreaking and causes shame for me for my home town! Clean it up OR don’t charge rent. Citizens have the right to question such antics!”
• “There is nothing inherently wrong with a government agency making some money by renting its facilities. Governments should be encouraged to take an entrepreneurial approach.
However, they also need to take a professional approach. Charging rent for the Kilpatrick Auditorium in the condition it was in is unacceptable. Spend the money to get the place cleaned up and then budget for maintenance and janitorial. Then market the facility at a reasonable rate. Convert it into a facility the County can be proud of.”
• “This hurts my heart. There used to be so much pride in Monticello. Now the elementary school looks like crap. The old high school looks like crap, the town looks run down and it's just sad. Moving the pageant to Madison should NOT be an option because it's the JEFFERSON County/Monticello watermelon festival. I was in the auditorium for the pageant, that I graduated in and I felt proud to be back home but also sad because it did look so run down. Mr. Brumfield is a good man. He needs to put his foot down on this one. Cause he knew KP would not have any of this!”
• “All of the buildings owned by the school board seem to be in deteriorating conditions. Because, as was pointed out, there is no love going into them. It doesn’t take long to search what impact building conditions have on students. Everyone can vote in new superintendents every election or turn everything over to charter schools, but if the people in charge don’t care enough to look at all of the problems nothing will change. The city can vote to fine owners of historic houses, if they let them fall into disrepair, but allow the school board to abandon buildings like the old high school, elementary school, the historic Howard Academy (old boys & girls club) … It's truly sad!”
• “Blah blah blah pass the buck. Typical.”
• “The school board ran the schools in the ground. So why do they still have positions to begin with?”
• “There is only one on that board who is worth a darn. The rest are just talking bobble heads who accomplish nothing but causing more chaos. So, do we really expect them to make sure the properties are kept clean and maintained? I think not! It is an embarrassment to the entire county for the auditorium to be in that condition. Someone needs to lose their job, since they obviously cannot perform them or make sure the person responsible is performing their duties.”
• “There is no excuse for the condition of the auditorium and charging the Jefferson County Watermelon Festival and other community wide events for it! Shame on those responsible for the care of the Jefferson County Auditorium! Taxpayers of our county pay for these things!”
• “They ought to refund every dime of that money to the pageant for the abhorrent state the building was in. Plain and simple truth is that if any one of those board members had rented any building and found all of that mess they would have DEMANDED a refund too. Also - if the board is charging other groups to rent out the building but it is falling into such disrepair WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING?”
• “I helped out and had a full-blown migraine by the time I left that evening. The musty smell was too much! And to think what it would have been like had some ladies didn’t take it upon themselves to get elbow deep in crap cleaning the night before! Disgusting!!”
Citizens of Jefferson County! It is time to stop sitting at home and complaining, or sitting on social media and complaining, or even sitting around drinking coffee together … and complaining!
It’s time to make our government (City, County, School Board, US Representatives, US Congress, President … everyone) be held accountable!
Voting is the best way. We can vote them in and we can vote them out!
However, in Jefferson County we now have five (5) elected officials that just “won” their seat again because no one is running against them for office.
Get Up! Get Out! Attend meetings and speak up!
Elected officials work for US – the taxpayers! So many government officials have forgotten that!
It’s time to remind everyone, in every government office, of that fact!
As far as the Jefferson County School Board … have an opinion? We’d love to hear from you at the next School Board meeting, July 9 at 6:00 p.m.
The Watermelon Festival, and every other community event and taxpayer in this county, could use your support!
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